2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Under the hard-to-pronounce word hides a fast-growing coniferous tree that dominated the Earth tens of millions of years ago and was accidentally lost in the mountains of China, having survived to this day. The openwork pyramidal crown withstands frosts, dropping bright green needles for the winter
Genus Metasequoia
At the end of the Cretaceous period, which, according to scientists, ended 66 million years ago, a coniferous tree reigned in the northern hemisphere of the Earth, which people gave such a long name. The genus is represented by only one species of plant, with an even more difficult name to pronounce -
Metasequoia glyptostroboid (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), or
sulcus conical … It seems that botanists have tried to put all the features of the plant in a few words of the name.
Metasequoia glyptostroboid
The first acquaintance of man with the tree occurred through its fossil remains, which geologists found in the sediments of the end of the Cretaceous period. It was at the end of the Cretaceous period on Earth that the largest extinction of many species of the living and plant world occurred, about the reasons for which scientists do not have a single and clear opinion. It was believed that the Glyptostroboid Metasequoia, which gave life to the modern sequoia, perished in those earthly cataclysms. Therefore, the discovery of a tree in the middle of the twentieth century in the hard-to-reach mountains of China was a gift for scientists, and for all of Mankind. It is a pity that there were no cute dinosaurs among the trees found.
For tens of millions of years, Metasequoia has learned to adapt to earthly life, growing to a height of 40 meters and acquiring a pyramidal lush openwork crown. Bright green needles, which in the Cretaceous period may have been evergreen, also adapted to the climate, becoming bronze by autumn, so that by winter they fell to the ground along with shortened shoots.
Metasequoia is a monoecious plant, therefore, female and male inflorescences appear in March on the same tree, simultaneously with fresh soft needles, dressing up the branches and trunk with reddish-brown bark, which has the ability to exfoliate with long fibers. Female inflorescences give life to green rounded cones, which, as they mature, turn into brown and drooping ones.
Growing
Glyptostroboid metasequoia prefers partial shade, although how such giants can be shaded is a mystery to me. Fortunately, the tree grows successfully in the sun, rapidly increasing its height, for which the organizers of parks and gardens in many countries of the world liked it.
Any type of fertile and moist soil will work for the tree, provided it is well drained. Development and growth are favorably influenced by the proximity to any body of water. Watering the plant is required only in the dry season.
Millions of years they have hardened the glyptostroboid Metasequoia, making it resistant to low and high ambient temperatures, as well as developing a strong immunity that is not afraid of diseases and pests.
To maintain the appearance, damaged and dry branches are removed. So that young trees do not have a fork on the trunk, they are subjected to special pruning.
Reproduction
It is not so easy to thrive on the seeds of Metasequoia glyptostroboid, therefore the theoretical possibility of plant propagation by sowing seeds cannot always be realized.
This does not stop lovers of antiquity, for whom there remains a way to propagate a relict tree with the help of cuttings. To do this, in the first two summer months, or in November, the apical semi-lignified cuttings are cut and arranged in a mixture of peat and sand (in a ratio of fifty to fifty). True, in order for summer cuttings to take root, a greenhouse equipped with a fogging installation is needed.
Rooted cuttings are provided with personal cups, periodically increasing the size of the container. And only after a couple of years, the seedlings are determined for a permanent place in the open field.
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